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‘Nacle Numbers: The Commenters [updated]

It was Ray, frequent commenter at both BCC and T&S, by a margin of over 900. He wrote 2803 comments, compared to the 1889 written by Matt W., who was #2.

Update: I have corrected several errors in the numbers that were helpfully pointed out to me in the comments and by email. Thanks for your feedback.

In previous installments of ‘Nacle Numbers, I’ve shown some data on my entire sample of 11 blogs, on differences among blogs, and on differences among bloggers. In this installment, I’ll show some data on commenters.

My best estimate is that 2705-ish people wrote comments on the 11 blogs in the sample. Why “ish”? Well, because there are lots of ways I’m probably off. For instance, I ignored all commenter names that were only used once. Doing this allowed me to avoid little problems like trackbacks getting counted as comments in my data and people using names only once for purposes of silliness (more on that in a moment) or anonymity.

Speaking of anonymity, there were hundreds of comments from “anonymous” and “anon” and all kinds of variations of these, including the following (with original spelling preserved but in all lower case): “‘nonymous”, “a nonie mouse”, “a.nonymous”, “also anon for now”, “aninnymouse”, “ann ominous”, “ann on”, “annon as well”, “annonamous”, “annonnymous”, “annonymous coward” [visiting from Slashdot, I assume], “anonymouspost”, “another anon”, “another anonymous”, “anothernonymous”, “call me anonymous 2”, “can i just be anonymous for this post?”, “can i just be anonymous?”, “don;t want to say”, “fake name”, “for privacy, name withheld”, “hiding my name today”, “i’ll tell you later”, “justanonotheranon”, “justanotheranon”, “more anonymous than usual”, “name witheld”, “name withheld”, “nameless this time”, “no name”, “noname”, “nonymus”, “sister anonymous”, “still anon”, “temporarilyanonymous”, and “understandably annonymous”. Note that this doesn’t include the anonymous-sounding names “a. nonny moose” and “anonon”, both of which I believe are used by regular commenters.

I know comments written using these names weren’t all written by the same person, but I’ve lumped them together by name anyway. After all, I figure if commenters are going to take special care to avoid using their usual names when writing particular comments, who am I to try to figure out who they really are? (And what’s the likelihood that I would have any success if I did try?)

The lumping together of all the anonymouses is an instance of a larger issue that I’m sure led to more errors in my data. That is, if comments are written at two blogs under the same name, is it the same person? In a lot of cases, clearly it is, particularly for prolific commenters and commenters having unique names (and those who link to their websites with the comment form so I can tell it’s the same person). But for some more common names and less prolific commenters, particularly for blogs in the sample that don’t share much of their audience (say Mormon Mommy Wars and Faith Promoting Rumor, for example), it’s entirely likely that I’ve combined comments made by more than one person under the same name.

On the other hand, I likely also failed to combine comments by the same person written under different names. I’ve combined all the ones I knew of, or that seemed obvious based on links from commenter names, similarity of names, uniqueness of names, etc. I tried to err on the side of conservatism, though, combining comments only if I had good reason to believe that the two names really represented one person. So I’ve probably failed to properly combine at least some people’s comments made under more than one name.

At the end of this post, there’s a big table that lists everyone who made at least 100 comments, as well as how many comments they made at each of the 11 blogs in the sample. But before I get to that, let me show you a few lists. First, let’s look at who wrote the most comments at each blog in the sample. I’ll list the blogs in order of total number of comments received (which you can find in the second table in ‘Nacle Numbers Part 2).

By Common Consent

Steve Evans, 1733

Ray, 1710

Kevin Barney, 959

Ronan, 942

MCQ, 791

Sam MB, 734

J. Stapley, 647

J. Nelson-Seawright, 645

Matt W., 588

Kevinf, 560

Times and Seasons

Adam Greenwood, 1479

Ray, 924

Ardis Parshall, 761

Julie M. Smith, 587

Bob, 496

Kaimi Wenger, 426

Russell Arben Fox, 416

Frank McIntyre, 323

Matt Evans, 315

Nate Oman, 291

Feminist Mormon Housewives

Janet, 1369

Quimby, 1122

mfranti, 603

G, 537

fMhLisa, 503

m&m, 501

SilverRain, 407

Christian, 399

chandelle, 380

ECS, 339

Mormon Mentality

annegb, 692

DKL, 684

a random John, 644

Dan, 633

danithew, 582

Devyn S., 543

Nick Literski, 338

Seth R., 307

Dan Ellsworth, 304

Bookslinger, 238

Mormon Mommy Wars

Heather O., 436

Tracy M, 411

The Wiz, 228

Sarah, 192

Cheryl, 186

moddy, 154

Natalie S., 148

Susan M, 131

makakona, 123

Sue, 120

New Cool Thang

Geoff J, 1060

Matt W. 738

Jacob J, 706

Blake, 397

Clark Goble, 271

Mark D., 193

Howard, 142

Mondo Cool, 111

Adam Greenwood, 108

J. Stapley, 105

Nine Moons

Cheryl, 258

Tom, 220

[tie] Rusty, 191

[tie] Seth R., 191

cj douglass, 177

Susan M, 170

Bret, 159

Lamonte, 152

Don Clifton, 133

Silus Grok, 64

Millennial Star

Geoff B, 666

[tie] Dan, 207

[tie] Seth R., 207

Clark Goble, 180

Brian Duffin, 161

Ivan Wolfe, 142

John Mansfield, 138

Tossman, 137

Mike Parker, 115

jjohnsen, 108

Zelophehad’s Daughters

Lynnette, 198

Kiskilili, 180

Mark IV, 177

Seraphine, 174

Eve, 163

Ziff, 154

jessawhy, 140

ECS, 133

Geoff J, 126

Matt W., 73

Faith Promoting Rumor

TrailerTrash, 282

SmallAxe, 188

lxxluthor, 146

David J, 137

Mogget, 133

John C. 112

Clark Goble, 111

Matt W., 100

J. Nelson-Seawright, 89

Nitsav, 85

Exponent II

Anonymous, 322

Caroline, 277

Deborah, 215

AmyB, 113

Maria, 80

amelia, 79

Dora, 72

jana, 67

Eve, 63

Ana, 45

Why were there so many anonymous comments at Exponent II (322 of the 457 total comments by “anonymous” as you can see in the table below)? I think it’s because it was really easy for commenters to mark their comments as “anonymous” at ExII. The blog was hosted by Blogger for all of 2007, and Blogger allows you to leave comments as “anonymous” by simply clicking a radio button. The remainder of the blogs in the sample require you to actually write “anonymous” as your name if you want to leave an anonymous comment. This hypothesis is supported by the small number of comments at ExII that were made with the second most popular anonymous label–“anon”–1 of the 288 total (again, you can see the numbers in the table). So I don’t think ExII commenters had a particular desire to be anonymous. I think the comment mechanism just made it really to be anonymous, even by accident. I know I’ve seen comments at ExII by “anonymous” that were then signed by the commenter at the bottom of the comment.

Here are lists of commenters who wrote the longest and shortest comments and whose comments were most and least variable in length. Only commenters who wrote at least 100 comments are considered for these lists, except for the “longest comment” list. Since these data don’t appear in the big table that lists all commenters, I’ll list a top 20 for each instead of just a top 10.

Who wrote the most total words in comments?

Ray, 269,764

Janet, 187,311

m&m, 180,921

Matt W., 152,629

Geoff J, 152,138

Quimby, 146,088

Nick Literski, 141,934

Dan, 138,530

J. Nelson-Seawright, 121,314

Clark Goble, 121,130

DKL, 117,770

Mark IV, 117,163

Jacob J, 116,284

Seth R., 113,089

Kevin Barney, 108,578

Ardis Parshall, 107,787

Adam Greenwood, 107,315

Naismith, 107,118

Blake, 105,367

Eve, 95,849

Who wrote the longest comments on average (words per comment)?

Highest mean

Highest median

Mike, 309

Trueheart, 245

amelia, 219

Kiskilili, 196

Phoenix, 193

Lynnette, 184

SmallAxe, 181 (181.46)

Marjorie Conder, 181 (181.44)

Naismith, 180 (180.03)

Christian, 180 (179.67)

Abish, 178 (178.46)

Bookslinger, 178 (177.86)

Eve, 177

Blake, 174

Blain, 172

rbc, 171

Jeff G, 167

Stephanie, 165

Russell Arben Fox, 162

Patricia Karamesines, 160

Trueheart, 207

Mike, 180

amelia, 176

SmallAxe, 166

Marjorie Conder, 152 (152.17)

Lynnette, 152 (151.50)

rbc, 149 (149.33)

Phoenix, 149 (148.75)

Kiskilili, 147

Naismith, 143

Blain, 140

Eve, 137

Lulubelle, 135

Abish, 132

Christian, 128

Glenn, 126

FoxyJ, 124

Margaret Young, 122 (122.17)

Aluwid, 122 (121.58)

Day, 121

Who wrote the shortest comments on average (words per comment)?

Lowest mean

Lowest median

gst, 32

Steve Evans, 33 (32.83)

Kim Siever, 33 (33.09)

Costanza, 36

StillConfused, 39

California Condor, 42 (42.005)

Tracy M, 42 (42.008)

Susan M, 44 (44.22)

KyleM, 44 (44.38)

mfranti, 45 (44.82)

Bob, 45 (44.86)

Brian Duffin, 45 (45.12)

Rebecca, 46

Ronan, 48 (47.68)

WillF, 48 (47.98)

Tim J., 49

cj douglass, 51 (51.24)

Jacob M, 51 (51.38)

Eric Nielson, 54

J. Stapley, 55

Steve Evans, 19 (19.00)

gst, 19 (19.17)

California Condor, 23 (22.83)

Kim Siever, 23 (23.00)

[tie] Costanza, 26 (25.50)

[tie] mfranti, 26 (25.50)

Tracy M, 26 (26.42)

KyleM, 27

WillF, 28 (27.50)

StillConfused, 28 (28.17)

Ronan, 29

Brian Duffin, 30

[tie] Rebecca, 31 (30.67)

[tie] Susan M, 31 (30.67)

Guy Murray, 31 (31.17)

mmiles, 32

[tie] Justin, 33 (33.17)

[tie] The Wiz, 33 (33.17)

Silus Grok, 35

cj douglass,36

Who wrote comments that were most and least variable in length (words per comment)?

Highest standard deviation

Lowest standard deviation

Mike, 350

Jim Cobabe, 247

Kyle R, 213

greenfrog, 207

Patricia Karamesines, 206

Stephanie, 202

Trueheart, 198 (197.72)

Rich, 198 (197.57)

Bookslinger, 191

Mogget, 183

Blake, 182

manaen, 176

Christian, 174 (173.77)

Kiskilili, 174 (173.69)

kurt, 173

TrailerTrash, 166 (166.03)

Jim F., 166 (165.95)

Abish, 164

m&m, 160 (159.687)

amelia, 160 (159.685)

Costanza, 34 (33.81)

Kim Siever, 34 (34.30)

Bob, 35 (34.81)

StillConfused, 35 (34.90)

Steve Evans, 38

gst, 39

Tim J, 40 (40.26)

Rebecca, 40 (40.31)

Susan M, 41

Jacob M, 44 (44.25)

Brian Duffin, 44 (44.42)

Don Clifton, 46 (46.105)

Tagore, 46 (46.109)

Eric Nielson, 47 (46.78)

Tracy M, 47 (46.96)

G, 47 (47.08)

KyleM, 48

cj douglass, 49

Bret, 51 (50.74)

Peter LLC, 51 (50.99)

Whose longest comments were the longest (in words)?

DT, 3404

Kevin Barney, 2769

Jim Cobabe, 2481

PGettings, 2449

dhasterok, 2362

Kevin Christensen, 2187

Lindsay, 2139

Keller, 2090

OneWhoServes, 2089

Louis Midgley, 1973

Hofnarr, 1915

Kyle R, 1882

Blake, 1856

greenfrog, 1780

TOmNossor, 1768

anonymouspost, 1758

Matt W., 1739

DKL, 1680

Mike, 1639

Richard Dutcher, 1636

In the tables below, only the 245 commenters who wrote at least 100 comments are listed. Any alternate names that I’ve combined as belonging to the same commenter are listed in brackets after the most commonly-used name. Other than the last column, the numbers in the table are just counts. So Ray wrote 2803 comments total, including 1710 at BCC, 924 at T&S, etc. The last column has a Gini coefficient, which is an index of how evenly a commenter distributed his or her comments across the blogs in the sample. It ranges from 0, which indicates the person’s comments were perfectly evenly distributed, to 1, which indicates that all his or her comments were written at a single blog1.

Total

BCC

T&S

FMH

Mment

MMW

NCT

9Mn

M*

ZD

FPR

ExII

Gini

Ray [Curtis DeGraw, Curtis]

2803

1710

924

6

17

101

8

1

33

2

1

0

0.810

Matt W.

1889

588

198

42

67

9

738

44

30

73

100

0

0.714

Steve Evans

1866

1733

110

11

3

0

3

1

3

1

1

0

0.946

Adam Greenwood

1812

156

1479

4

4

2

108

1

56

0

2

0

0.866

Janet

1609

8

162

1369

2

31

0

0

0

37

0

0

0.907

Geoff J

1493

116

32

18

47

1

1060

40

4

126

48

1

0.871

Dan

1391

325

128

42

633

1

0

50

207

4

1

0

0.786

Seth R.

1342

164

237

170

307

0

35

191

207

16

15

0

0.631

Kevin Barney [KLBarney]

1305

959

195

69

31

2

4

8

4

9

24

0

0.715

Mark IV [Mark Brown]

1244

542

169

156

77

10

6

48

39

177

9

11

0.593

Total

BCC

T&S

FMH

Mment

MMW

NCT

9Mn

M*

ZD

FPR

ExII

Gini

m&m [mullingandmusing]

1231

191

227

501

42

21

92

37

14

53

9

44

0.406

Nick Literski

1199

366

102

131

338

9

68

50

96

1

24

14

0.487

Quimby

1122

0

0

1122

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1.000

Clark Goble [Clark]

1120

244

120

34

122

1

271

31

180

6

111

0

0.654

Ronan [RonanJH]

1085

942

63

23

20

0

13

14

0

0

10

0

0.810

Julie M. Smith [Julie in Austin]

1080

137

587

202

37

21

1

12

18

24

33

8

0.510

danithew

1066

191

109

28

582

42

13

53

30

3

14

1

0.677

a random John

1024

139

50

19

644

2

52

44

18

0

55

1

0.760

queuno

1003

296

253

185

133

1

0

0

104

31

0

0

0.619

DKL

985

72

209

14

684

1

0

0

0

5

0

0

0.942

Total

BCC

T&S

FMH

Mment

MMW

NCT

9Mn

M*

ZD

FPR

ExII

Gini

Ardis Parshall [Ardis]

963

120

761

21

44

3

3

4

4

1

0

2

0.838

MCQ

963

791

33

50

48

0

3

37

0

1

0

0

0.839

annegb

962

72

51

48

692

2

11

28

42

6

7

3

0.774

Jacob J

947

79

35

11

12

0

706

33

8

34

29

0

0.877

Sam MB [smb, Sam B]

929

734

98

27

31

0

4

5

8

3

19

0

0.738

J. Nelson-Seawright [JNS, RoastedTomatoes]

915

645

28

28

1

0

53

5

0

66

89

0

0.745

J. Stapley

904

647

74

4

27

0

105

9

13

0

19

6

0.672

mfranti [melaniefranti, mr. pink’s mom]

891

12

26

603

234

0

0

13

1

2

0

0

0.866

Kaimi Wenger [Kaimi, Kaimipono]

843

136

426

138

52

5

0

6

3

64

2

11

0.645

Tracy M

808

264

31

46

8

411

0

30

0

2

0

16

0.843

Total

BCC

T&S

FMH

Mment

MMW

NCT

9Mn

M*

ZD

FPR

ExII

Gini

California Condor [John Williams]

800

345

324

1

91

1

21

8

3

0

6

0

0.707

Geoff B

777

9

96

0

4

0

0

2

666

0

0

0

0.991

ECS

711

0

43

339

56

2

98

32

2

133

0

6

0.737

John C. [HP, HP/JDC, J. Daniel Crawford]

697

446

89

20

11

0

2

6

3

8

112

0

0.831

Tom

667

115

30

114

87

1

28

220

1

67

0

4

0.774

Susan M

665

153

37

74

52

131

30

170

10

8

0

0

0.704

bbell

662

344

189

32

2

0

2

47

45

0

0

1

0.686

Kevinf [bizarro Kevin]

647

560

84

3

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.963

Bob

633

126

496

3

3

0

0

0

3

2

9

0

0.934

Blake

608

156

40

0

1

0

397

0

3

2

9

0

0.941

Total

BCC

T&S

FMH

Mment

MMW

NCT

9Mn

M*

ZD

FPR

ExII

Gini

john f.

600

254

102

14

172

0

16

15

7

3

12

5

0.571

Naismith

595

70

60

256

64

7

20

9

31

64

2

12

0.533

fMhLisa

576

26

19

503

5

6

1

3

0

7

0

6

0.840

Kristine [Kristine Haglund Harris]

573

301

132

67

9

10

0

23

1

24

4

2

0.572

SilverRain

570

66

24

407

15

13

15

3

0

25

1

1

0.726

John Mansfield

566

151

129

3

98

0

1

44

138

0

2

0

0.781

G

557

1

2

537

9

0

0

0

1

2

0

5

0.951

Devyn S.

551

1

0

0

543

0

0

6

1

0

0

0

0.992

Heather O. [Heather Oman]

547

5

29

54

0

436

0

0

0

4

0

19

0.939

Eve

543

50

69

168

8

5

11

6

0

163

0

63

0.818

Total

BCC

T&S

FMH

Mment

MMW

NCT

9Mn

M*

ZD

FPR

ExII

Gini

Cheryl

540

19

6

65

2

186

1

258

0

0

0

3

0.911

Margaret Young

516

170

154

10

179

0

0

0

0

0

0

3

0.846

Norbert

506

334

118

10

9

0

4

17

1

6

7

0

0.688

Sarah

498

30

144

25

3

192

2

1

89

2

5

5

0.772

Bookslinger

489

15

80

5

238

11

6

27

86

12

2

7

0.678

KyleM

489

227

52

0

169

0

0

39

1

0

1

0

0.808

Christian

469

1

67

399

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

1

0.957

Rusty [Rusty Clifton]

464

65

31

90

32

3

14

191

25

6

3

4

0.744

Chino Blanco

460

75

107

110

105

8

0

48

6

0

1

0

0.669

Anonymous

457

42

12

35

9

4

4

0

0

6

23

322

0.946

Total

BCC

T&S

FMH

Mment

MMW

NCT

9Mn

M*

ZD

FPR

ExII

Gini

Mark B.

444

168

153

2

4

0

0

49

67

1

0

0

0.779

Russell Arben Fox

444

17

416

1

2

1

0

3

0

0

4

0

0.943

Frank McIntyre

443

114

323

2

0

0

0

0

0

4

0

0

0.943

MikeinWeHo

441

274

121

25

0

0

0

0

21

0

0

0

0.814

Brad Kramer [Brad]

421

227

150

2

6

0

0

0

15

0

21

0

0.732

jjohnsen

413

93

66

91

39

0

1

14

108

1

0

0

0.766

cj douglass

411

154

6

64

10

0

0

177

0

0

0

0

0.943

Ben There

406

80

61

26

220

0

0

18

1

0

0

0

0.848

Ann

403

143

37

97

55

10

0

4

0

32

10

15

0.506

Mark D.

400

118

36

0

2

0

193

7

3

3

38

0

0.844

Total

BCC

T&S

FMH

Mment

MMW

NCT

9Mn

M*

ZD

FPR

ExII

Gini

Sue

400

46

40

112

17

120

1

15

2

30

0

17

0.630

Matt Evans

396

57

315

8

4

1

1

0

3

3

0

4

0.831

Dan Ellsworth [Dan E.]

383

39

25

6

304

0

3

0

0

5

1

0

0.921

chandelle

382

0

0

380

0

0

0

0

0

2

0

0

0.993

Jacob M

382

223

129

13

4

0

3

4

2

3

0

1

0.721

Bored in Vernal [BiV, BiV at hieing to Kolob, Behind the Infamous Veil]

365

58

83

83

11

0

66

6

9

8

12

29

0.512

Proud Daughter of Eve

365

52

26

59

136

29

5

16

15

13

5

9

0.411

mami

364

42

16

259

14

20

0

0

0

12

0

1

0.782

Tatiana

361

130

75

79

7

1

0

17

0

18

1

33

0.627

TrailerTrash [TT]

360

23

37

6

4

0

2

0

1

5

282

0

0.974

Total

BCC

T&S

FMH

Mment

MMW

NCT

9Mn

M*

ZD

FPR

ExII

Gini

Lamonte

354

123

74

1

0

0

0

152

4

0

0

0

0.939

Hellmut

353

180

30

99

34

0

0

4

0

1

2

3

0.660

paula

331

57

80

122

36

0

0

1

0

7

0

28

0.697

jessawhy

321

27

19

65

7

38

11

1

0

140

2

11

0.831

Caroline

320

2

1

24

0

13

0

0

1

2

0

277

0.987

Nate Oman

320

11

291

13

2

1

1

0

0

0

0

1

0.934

Eric Russell

314

162

42

10

22

0

27

19

10

18

1

3

0.476

meems

311

79

45

65

4

80

13

23

0

0

0

2

0.672

Deborah

307

16

30

17

0

22

0

0

0

7

0

215

0.962

Justin

306

212

28

10

17

0

9

6

4

4

14

2

0.529

Total

BCC

T&S

FMH

Mment

MMW

NCT

9Mn

M*

ZD

FPR

ExII

Gini

DavidH

305

134

109

1

15

0

0

0

46

0

0

0

0.836

Lupita

300

2

75

209

12

0

0

1

0

0

0

1

0.893

Veritas

298

60

37

129

21

20

8

10

1

2

0

10

0.471

Brian Duffin [Brian D.]

297

33

36

5

56

0

2

3

161

0

1

0

0.918

Peter LLC

297

159

57

40

9

0

6

23

1

0

2

0

0.667

greenfrog

291

99

130

0

36

0

0

0

25

0

0

1

0.749

Jack

289

83

97

13

15

0

24

7

30

19

1

0

0.568

Anon

288

69

25

120

40

4

2

4

2

15

6

1

0.521

Costanza

286

155

122

0

8

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.878

Ivan Wolfe [Ivan A. Wolfe]

286

19

114

0

0

1

0

1

142

0

9

0

0.932

Total

BCC

T&S

FMH

Mment

MMW

NCT

9Mn

M*

ZD

FPR

ExII

Gini

makakona

284

24

28

60

23

123

0

26

0

0

0

0

0.821

madhousewife

280

12

1

209

0

14

0

3

0

15

0

26

0.783

cchrissyy

278

31

28

122

16

32

1

7

2

15

0

24

0.588

Seraphine

274

14

15

42

1

1

15

1

0

174

0

11

0.928

Starfoxy

274

44

32

101

0

36

0

0

0

45

0

16

0.737

gst

273

119

79

20

37

2

0

10

5

0

0

1

0.608

amri

271

259

1

6

2

0

0

3

0

0

0

0

0.958

Guy Murray

267

109

48

31

54

0

6

4

13

2

0

0

0.581

Patricia Karamesines

265

0

264

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

0.994

The Wiz

262

0

6

27

1

228

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.988

Total

BCC

T&S

FMH

Mment

MMW

NCT

9Mn

M*

ZD

FPR

ExII

Gini

Lynnette

261

11

5

17

7

0

11

0

0

198

4

8

0.940

Jonathan Green

259

31

219

0

1

0

0

0

7

0

1

0

0.921

SmallAxe

256

13

26

0

7

0

16

0

5

1

188

0

0.958

Dave [Dave Banack, DMI Dave]

255

60

121

12

8

1

4

8

5

16

19

1

0.564

MAC

255

29

18

74

125

4

1

2

0

1

0

1

0.802

Mike Parker

253

57

70

0

9

0

0

0

115

0

2

0

0.930

CS Eric

247

84

50

41

30

32

1

1

3

4

0

1

0.532

Todd Wood

244

67

16

4

2

1

84

11

9

3

45

2

0.729

Howard

240

22

6

19

5

0

142

1

0

5

39

1

0.854

Aaron Brown [Aaron B]

239

188

38

0

9

0

2

1

0

0

1

0

0.855

Total

BCC

T&S

FMH

Mment

MMW

NCT

9Mn

M*

ZD

FPR

ExII

Gini

Kathryn Lynard Soper

237

1

232

2

0

2

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.990

ronito

237

163

71

3

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.920

kristine N [krizarro]

233

150

9

39

24

1

0

0

6

0

0

4

0.691

Lessie

228

0

0

224

0

0

0

0

0

3

0

1

0.971

Ugly Mahana

228

109

84

25

0

0

1

0

2

5

2

0

0.712

EmilyS

224

2

1

204

0

2

0

5

0

3

0

7

0.870

Rosalynde Welch [Rosalynde]

224

17

180

0

3

5

0

3

0

15

0

1

0.817

Blue

219

0

0

219

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1.000

Thomas Parkin

219

170

21

1

0

1

21

2

0

2

0

1

0.788

Ben

216

95

45

22

28

0

6

4

6

2

5

3

0.359

Total

BCC

T&S

FMH

Mment

MMW

NCT

9Mn

M*

ZD

FPR

ExII

Gini

Jacob

216

65

117

9

4

0

13

3

0

0

5

0

0.706

Kiskilili

214

1

9

6

0

0

6

8

0

180

2

2

0.958

Sam B.

214

121

11

6

14

0

5

18

18

8

12

1

0.513

z

213

14

45

98

7

4

0

0

0

45

0

0

0.865

Rebecca

211

49

0

148

5

1

0

2

1

4

0

1

0.796

Stephen M (Ethesis)

211

44

27

48

16

2

32

6

2

25

9

0

0.559

Ziff

208

6

2

44

1

0

0

0

0

154

0

1

0.983

claire

205

40

20

54

22

46

0

7

3

8

0

5

0.503

Artemis [fMhArtemis]

204

1

2

196

1

0

0

3

0

0

0

1

0.956

Ana

202

5

25

113

3

8

0

1

0

2

0

45

0.869

Total

BCC

T&S

FMH

Mment

MMW

NCT

9Mn

M*

ZD

FPR

ExII

Gini

Mondo Cool

201

47

6

0

0

0

111

30

6

0

1

0

0.882

Melinda

198

52

32

12

0

91

2

5

3

0

0

1

0.804

Last Lemming

197

63

32

7

23

0

27

19

18

4

3

1

0.496

Robert C.

193

17

52

1

2

0

45

0

3

3

70

0

0.879

Doc

187

51

32

11

20

1

20

9

16

13

12

2

0.400

Kyle R

187

0

158

0

0

0

11

0

18

0

0

0

0.878

manaen

180

32

124

7

0

1

1

0

6

2

6

1

0.714

Vada

175

8

16

38

0

62

0

2

0

36

0

13

0.780

mmiles

174

68

81

11

0

1

0

0

12

0

1

0

0.775

Matt Bowman [Matt B]

173

32

8

2

114

0

0

0

1

12

4

0

0.851

Total

BCC

T&S

FMH

Mment

MMW

NCT

9Mn

M*

ZD

FPR

ExII

Gini

lxxluthor

172

18

3

0

0

0

4

0

1

0

146

0

0.988

Eric Nielson

171

39

10

0

4

0

93

6

7

5

7

0

0.776

amelia

170

0

0

89

0

0

0

0

0

2

0

79

0.970

Steve M

170

59

20

36

17

0

0

9

1

19

8

1

0.574

Amy

168

2

20

52

11

63

0

11

6

2

0

1

0.701

kurt

167

25

6

3

22

0

17

14

3

2

75

0

0.843

moddy

166

1

0

11

0

154

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.994

Extreme Dorito [Extreme Doritos]

164

164

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1.000

TMD

164

41

81

38

1

0

0

0

0

1

0

2

0.785

Keri Brooks [Keri]

161

41

31

45

10

4

2

7

9

6

0

6

0.354

Total

BCC

T&S

FMH

Mment

MMW

NCT

9Mn

M*

ZD

FPR

ExII

Gini

Left Field

161

79

37

17

19

0

0

0

6

3

0

0

0.625

Melissa

161

25

25

29

0

78

0

1

1

0

0

2

0.847

Bret

160

1

0

0

0

0

0

159

0

0

0

0

1.000

JA Benson

155

43

19

39

35

0

0

19

0

0

0

0

0.757

Maria

155

19

18

33

3

0

0

2

0

0

0

80

0.952

Mark N.

155

39

40

2

50

1

4

2

14

2

0

1

0.639

a spectator

154

43

27

21

12

2

2

17

0

13

1

16

0.599

Bill

154

43

31

6

12

1

3

15

38

1

1

3

0.665

David J

152

12

1

0

1

0

0

1

0

0

137

0

0.994

Don Clifton [Don]

152

4

0

2

0

1

9

133

0

0

3

0

0.972

Total

BCC

T&S

FMH

Mment

MMW

NCT

9Mn

M*

ZD

FPR

ExII

Gini

FoxyJ

151

22

15

42

1

35

1

4

0

11

0

20

0.700

Blain

150

57

46

47

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.812

Not Ophelia

150

6

7

136

0

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.968

jimbob

149

68

37

6

2

1

1

2

32

0

0

0

0.829

Natalie S.

149

0

1

0

0

148

0

0

0

0

0

0

1.000

Tanya Sue

147

16

8

77

0

0

0

3

0

23

0

20

0.798

Wilfried

147

1

145

0

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.995

AmyB

146

0

0

7

0

0

0

3

0

23

0

113

0.963

Matt Thurston

146

56

21

12

48

0

0

0

0

0

0

9

0.782

sare

145

0

0

144

0

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.996

Total

BCC

T&S

FMH

Mment

MMW

NCT

9Mn

M*

ZD

FPR

ExII

Gini

Sherpa

141

35

0

5

100

0

0

0

0

1

0

0

0.954

Idahospud

139

13

22

77

1

5

0

0

0

16

0

5

0.751

Lulubelle

139

18

4

97

5

0

0

14

0

1

0

0

0.830

Mogget

139

6

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

133

0

0.999

Joanne

138

89

1

46

0

0

0

1

0

0

0

1

0.865

R. Gary

137

51

29

2

33

0

1

2

2

0

17

0

0.751

Tossman

137

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

137

0

0

0

1.000

MLU

136

10

124

0

0

0

0

0

2

0

0

0

0.964

Army_wives_don’t_whine

133

0

0

133

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1.000

Mike

133

11

90

2

2

0

18

4

0

0

3

3

0.707

Total

BCC

T&S

FMH

Mment

MMW

NCT

9Mn

M*

ZD

FPR

ExII

Gini

Nitsav

133

18

12

0

2

0

3

7

0

6

85

0

0.926

rbc

133

55

3

7

55

0

3

5

1

0

4

0

0.731

Mathew

132

44

45

34

7

0

0

1

0

0

0

1

0.710

Stephanie

132

58

8

51

0

10

3

0

0

0

2

0

0.708

Kim Siever

131

19

39

27

0

0

5

36

5

0

0

0

0.801

Nutty

131

0

0

74

0

57

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.939

Tagore

131

1

0

0

130

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.999

Trueheart

131

5

0

125

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

0

0.980

Phoenix [Marie]

130

0

1

97

0

28

2

0

0

0

0

2

0.862

David Grua

129

40

60

0

11

0

1

2

1

0

14

0

0.768

Total

BCC

T&S

FMH

Mment

MMW

NCT

9Mn

M*

ZD

FPR

ExII

Gini

Jared

129

61

16

0

30

1

14

4

2

0

1

0

0.639

David T.

128

112

2

2

5

0

1

4

2

0

0

0

0.831

jana [JanaR, pilgrimgirl]

128

6

5

47

1

1

0

0

0

1

0

67

0.962

Carlos

127

0

14

0

112

0

0

0

1

0

0

0

0.980

Silus Grok

127

14

39

1

7

0

0

64

0

0

2

0

0.926

StillConfused

127

127

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1.000

Tim J.

127

64

7

3

13

1

6

29

1

0

3

0

0.746

Peter

126

42

26

39

3

0

2

7

0

7

0

0

0.609

endlessnegotiation

125

13

27

3

41

1

5

33

1

0

1

0

0.793

Aluwid

124

49

22

3

1

0

0

0

49

0

0

0

0.941

Total

BCC

T&S

FMH

Mment

MMW

NCT

9Mn

M*

ZD

FPR

ExII

Gini

Alison Moore Smith

122

7

78

23

1

2

0

1

2

7

0

1

0.704

dangermom

121

0

33

35

0

40

0

0

0

0

0

13

0.814

just call me Cassandra

121

0

3

114

0

4

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.973

Katie P.

121

9

9

54

49

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.890

Glenn

119

39

16

0

12

1

23

4

0

23

1

0

0.741

tosh

119

119

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1.000

Jo in Utah [Jo]

117

3

0

94

0

20

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.918

AHLDuke

116

57

19

13

10

0

1

0

3

0

13

0

0.725

Christopher

115

37

29

1

21

0

2

0

2

4

19

0

0.728

Jeff G

115

6

0

0

3

0

101

1

4

0

0

0

0.968

Total

BCC

T&S

FMH

Mment

MMW

NCT

9Mn

M*

ZD

FPR

ExII

Gini

Jim F.

115

0

114

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.998

Liz

115

6

5

30

0

55

0

1

0

6

0

12

0.805

adcama

114

47

67

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.933

BTD Greg

113

60

3

0

44

0

0

6

0

0

0

0

0.861

abish

111

107

4

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.990

William Morris

111

16

72

2

2

0

4

5

5

0

5

0

0.664

Ben Huff [Ben H.]

110

8

102

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.989

Patti

110

0

2

108

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.997

Katie

109

26

14

27

14

3

11

4

1

2

2

5

0.331

Michelle

109

2

13

19

2

47

0

2

2

3

0

19

0.766

Total

BCC

T&S

FMH

Mment

MMW

NCT

9Mn

M*

ZD

FPR

ExII

Gini

Jim

107

77

12

14

0

0

3

0

0

0

1

0

0.796

Jordan F.

107

28

49

2

17

0

3

0

7

0

1

0

0.675

LAGirrrl

107

3

0

99

0

2

0

0

0

3

0

0

0.940

Rich

107

16

26

65

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.907

Day

103

1

16

69

1

11

0

0

0

0

0

5

0.797

JohnR [John Remy]

103

1

3

79

0

0

0

0

0

6

0

14

0.858

Melanie

103

34

19

22

5

4

1

1

1

3

1

12

0.565

RE

103

7

2

86

0

1

0

0

0

5

0

2

0.859

Clair

102

46

53

0

3

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.901

Jim Cobabe

102

16

59

9

2

0

2

9

3

0

2

0

0.657

Total

BCC

T&S

FMH

Mment

MMW

NCT

9Mn

M*

ZD

FPR

ExII

Gini

WillF

102

0

92

0

5

0

1

0

4

0

0

0

0.916

Jamie Trwth

101

8

1

6

83

0

0

1

1

0

0

1

0.907

Marjorie Conder

101

27

50

10

0

0

0

0

5

9

0

0

0.759

Mary Ann

101

2

0

99

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.997

Latter-day Guy

100

95

0

3

2

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.973

________________________1I’m actually not terribly familiar with the Gini coefficient. This just seemed like a fun application for it, so I thought I’d try it out. If I understand right, its most familiar application is by economists, who use it to measure inequality of income in a country. One more point to note if you’re trying to reproduce my numbers is that the Gini coefficients in the tables are based not on the counts themselves, but on proportions calculated from the counts. For each commenter at each blog, I found the proportion of all comments at that blog made by that commenter. For example, BCC received 33,880 comments in 2007, so Ray’s 1710 comments at BCC constituted .050 (5%) of all comments made there. So to get a Gini coefficient of 0 (a completely even distribution across the blogs), a commenter would have to make the same proportion of all comments made at each blog rather than the same number of comments at each blog.

Heh, my wife (who is in the other room drying her hair and doing her morning blogging) called me over to share her incredulous surprise at my commenting. Guess I should comment less frequently and all. 😛

Since commenters are so important to all the blogs, there ought to be some sort of Niblet category based on the community-building of all this — commenting on most blogs, or most comments on blog not one’s own, or something.

Wow, Ziff, this is amazing. Where would be be without computers and the Internet?

FYI, I’ll claim at least one of the comments attrributed to BRM (I originally commented as GBH, but one of the spoilsports who police comments at BCC changed it), as well as the comments by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Shoeless Joe.

The other thing this reinforces for me is that what we call the bloggernacle really is pretty small. Most of the interaction takes place among

They *must* be, ECS, given how many thousand visitors we have every day and how few comments are left. Even if they all signed themselves “anonymous” I wish they would drop a word to let us know they have been there.

The Gini thing is really interesting. It confirms to me that I’ve become a bit of a slacker when it comes to commenting on other blogs, even though I read them regularly. (Actually, I have the same problem with writing comments as with writing posts–I start a lot that I never finish! But looking at these numbers, I’m thinking that maybe I just need to aim for shorter comments. 🙂 )

Like Mark, I’m struck by how much of the conversation in the bloggernacle is between a group of people about the size of a ward. Though it’s quite the ward, what with Father Abraham, King Benjamin, and Bruce R. McConkie all dropping by.

Thanks for all your kind comments. Idahospud, you’ll be happy to know that most everyone I know–especially my wife–shares your opinion. I must have something oddly wired in my head, though, because I love looking at data. I love to generate a frequency table and guess who’s going to be the biggest commenter at FMH, or whose comments are going to be the longest on average, and then check it against the results.

jjohnson, I would love to do yearly updates. I would particularly like to increase my blog sample from 11 to something like ten times that many, given how many interesting Mormon blogs there are out there. I just don’t know if I’ll have the time, though.

Lynnette, I agree that the Gini coefficients are fascinating. As you can see, you’re certainly not alone in mostly commenting at your own blog. Isn’t that an issue that was raised at the Niblets in the past few years–lamented as one of the worst things in the ‘nacle is that everyone just comments at their own blog?

m&m, speaking of Gini coefficients, I think that’s what really distinguishes you from most of the other top commenters. Most write at a blog or two or three, but you really comment quite regularly at a whole bunch of blogs (including I’m sure more than were even in my sample.)

Ronan, great idea! Now I just need to get everyone to tell me their occupation. Seth, I’m sure you’re right, that y’all lawyers have the most to say.

ECS, Ardis, and a random John, I assume you must be right about the ratio of lurkers to commenters. It would be interesting to know what it is. As I’m sure I’ve said before, and as you can see from my sorry comment numbers in the table, I pretty much only comment here at ZD although I read quite a few other blogs quite regularly. So it’s not just dedicated lurkers who bump the traffic numbers up, it’s we lazy bloggers who comment elsewhere but don’t have the energy to comment everywhere we go.

Mark, thanks for revealing the secret of some of the funny commenter names. For my part, I’ll admit to being Leonard McCoy and the GOP police. It is interesting to see how few people, really, make most of the comments. I wonder how much this would change if I could increase my sample size to look at a bunch more blogs. Certainly there are lots of blogs that largely share commenters, but each blog probably has at least some commenters who are unique to that blog, that is, who pretty much only comment at that one blog.

Dan, not at all. I think this is just a signal that you need to comment more! After all, in the neverending war of words between you and DKL, you have the lead, but only just barely. 😉 He could overtake you with just a few well-placed wordy comments.

m&m, speaking of Gini coefficients, I think that’s what really distinguishes you from most of the other top commenters. Most write at a blog or two or three, but you really comment quite regularly at a whole bunch of blogs (including I’m sure more than were even in my sample.)

Is that statistical evidence that I need to get a life more than anyone else? 🙂

Not at all, m&m. After all, if people who write lots of comments need to get a life, then people who gather data and make big charts about how many comments those people write are the ones who really need to get a life. 🙂

Ziff, if you do decide to do this again, let us know if there is any way we could package the T&S data for you to make it easier for you to do the numbers.

I thought it was really interesting to see how small a number of regular commenters there are. At T&S we get somewhere over 2000 “visits” on a given day. Some of those are repeats etc etc., but the 5% number arJ cites from slashdot is probably not a bad guess, for T&S anyway.

Norbert, thanks. You’re right. I was afraid that I would fail to combine names for people who comment under different names, but clearly that fear didn’t move me to actually get on the stick and get it right. I’m planning to update the post in a couple of days once (I hope) any other of my errors have been pointed out.

Frank, thanks so much for the offer. I will definitely take you up on it if I’m able to do ‘Nacle Numbers for 2008.

Adam, sins? Why not “hobbies”?

Thanks, Ardis, good idea. Ray, when you get to reading this, congratulations on being the most talkative commenter of the year!

I tried to comment before as “Anonymous” but I guess my comment went into moderation. I’m going to have to ask my question as myself. Well, as one of myselves.

Here’s the question for you professional bloggers; something that’s been bugging me for awhile…

I’ve only been commenting on the blogs for about six months. I read them for awhile before ever blogging and still read a lot without commenting. That won’t change, even to make a name for myself in the blogging world. 🙂 ) (I’ve only just learned how to use the blog aggregators, after all.)

I started out with a name, rather arbitrary, (“East Coast”). Then my husband “outed” me to my in-laws. I never get snippy on Times & Seasons but to reserve the right to be snippity or talk about my in-laws elsewhere and to protect my intellectual privacy, I chose another name to comment on the other blogs. (That was also an arbitrary name and chosen because I had just been looking up how fast aspirin decomposes in a liquid.) Now it’s getting a little ridiculous to use the two names.

So: how do I aggregate my pseudonyms?

Thanks all and congrats to Ray (or condolences to your wife or something like that).

Good question, Frank. I thought it would be more meaningful in proportions because the total number of comments across the different blogs varies so dramatically. So writing a particular number of comments at a high traffic blog can mean something quite different from writing the same number at a low traffic blog. Take your 323 comments at T&S, for example. You’re clearly a frequent participant, but you’re nowhere near being the most talkative, not with Adam’s 1479 sins shouted from the rooftops. But if you had written 323 comments here at ZD, you would have been by far the most prolific commenter, clearly dominating the discussion.

So I normalized the comment numbers to try to handle that difference in meaning. I figured that contributing the same percentage of a blog’s comments across blogs would constitute a better standard for spreading one’s comments equally than contributing the same number across blogs.

Researcher, unfortunately, I don’t know that it’s possible to link up your pseudonyms.

The problem is this: Each blog has a database that has all the information about all its posts and comments, including who wrote them. For posts and any comments written by bloggers at that blog while they were logged in, the database doesn’t actually have their name, but instead a pointer to their account. This means that it’s easy to go back and change the name associated with all those posts and comments, simply by changing the name on the account. The pointers in the database would all still point to the same account; they would just retrieve a different name from it. So for example if I changed my name to “Biff”, all my posts would automatically be changed to say they were written by Biff.

Unfortunately, for comments written by people who aren’t logged in at the blog (basically everyone who’s not a blogger there), the blog’s database doesn’t save a pointer to anything. It just saves the literal text string (“Researcher” or “East Coast”) that you entered in the comment form. Since those text strings aren’t linked to anything, there’s not an easy way to go back and change them. The only way I can think of would be to ask bloggers at the individual blogs to go back and change your comment names manually in their databases, which would be a pain because they would have to find and change every instance, every comment, separately.

This issue is further complicated by the fact that most blogs will set a cookie on your computer so that if you go and comment once under the name “East Coast”, if you go back again, the comment form will already be prefilled with your name. But this connection between your comments is illusory; it doesn’t represent anything in the blog’s database that can be changed easily.

But I could be wrong. Anyone who knows more about this stuff please feel free to correct me.

Well, thanks, Steve, that makes me feel better. Just a few minutes ago I was bemoaning the fact that after having lived in our current location for almost four years I could go to a middle school concert last night and not know a single soul (besides my kids). Someone… somewhere… knows who I am. Or at least my pseudonym.

And thanks, Ziff, I don’t need my comments linked up or counted or anything, I just wanted to ensure that I was acting in an intellectually honest way and this was the first chance to ask anyone.

Wow, Zifff. Way to go!
I think I remember asking about this stuff, but I had no idea that you had access to this info.
I’m surprised that my name is on the lists, too. Mostly that I have one really long comment out there. (no idea on what blog or thread, though). We should verify for the longest thread people (myself included) that the comments were original words, and not huge blocks of copied/pasted text.
As I recall, I tried to take a break from blogging last year (Q1) so my numbers will artificially deflated. And, this year I’ve started up at Exponent, so I’m sure I’ll have way more next year. (but, like Eve said, maybe that’s an indication that I should be doing more things, elsewhere. Like reading a book or playing with my children)
sigh.
Good work, Ziff.

Ardis, it’s been instructive to me to read your perspective on T&S posts and comments. Like most of us (I suspect) I read a lot more than I comment on. But I confess I’m often hesitant to comment at T&S in particular. It seems like such a big blog with so many people already commenting and so many lawyers (!) that I feel more self-conscious (if I’m going to say anything I’d better think it through and through and THROUGH!) whereas here at ZD my siblings already know I’m basically a goofball and put up with me anyway, so I feel more comfortable just dashing off whatever comes out of my smart mouth.

After all, if people who write lots of comments need to get a life, then people who gather data and make big charts about how many comments those people write are the ones who really need to get a life.

Awesome as usual Ziff. I was worried that the commenter edition of the series would be boring compared to the previous editions, but it wasn’t at all. Very fascinating results, especially the gini coefficient.

I’m sort of amazed I’m up there as high as I am — I think that’s me; there’s a few people posting with “Sarah” but no URL that are not me.

I’m also extremely pleased to see that I posted at least once on every blog in your sample. I was looking, and didn’t see many others with something in every column (myself, Rusty, Naismith… now I’ll be late to work, so I’ll stop here.)

Oh, and I’m pretty sure that not all of the Mormon Mommy Wars ones are me — I think I’ve posted maybe 25-30 comments there… unless I’m just forgetting a REALLY large number of comments. I mean, yeah, I’ve posted more at Times & Seasons than at M* (I contributed something like twenty comments on the “clean up the sidebar” thread alone) but I don’t think I’ve posted more at MMW than anyplace else.

But aren’t you impressed by many of the people who apparently only comment 100-200 times per year? As I looked down that list of names, I saw many who are consistently enlightening and insightful, and who I have come to think of as friends. The realization that I say so much less in ten times as many words makes me think that I need to start being the traditionally masculine strong, silent type. After all, I do not want to open myself to a charge of gender confusion.

Kaimi (43),

I’m thinking of a word that starts with “d” and ends with “ammit!!!” That’s what I feel like saying when I realize that at least half of those comments were made in haste and are poorly thought through, or which express views which I may no longer hold. The good thing about blogging is that it feels like a conversation among friends, where you can backtrack, correct yourself, or restate something in a better way. The downside is that our idiocy is now digitally preserved forever, I guess, for the entire world to see. Honestly, when I think back on some of the exchanges I’ve had with people in blogland, it is so mortifyingly embarrassing that I feel like crawling into a hole somewhere. Maybe the only option for me is to continue to post under the blogonym of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Then they might let me do a guest post here about the wonderful specialness of the ewig-weibliche.

Eve, T&S bloggers have two or three degrees each, and sometimes when I look at Nate’s posts I amuse myself by counting the number of words I don’t recognize; when I read Jonathan’s, I marvel that I do know all the words yet still can’t understand the sentences. How do you think I feel writing for T&S as a dropout without any degree to my credit? I’m so incredibly grateful for even a two-word comment that proves somebody reads a post, even if there isn’t anything more to say than that!

Susan M, why thank you! As an avowed geek, I take that to be high praise.

Ardis, I’m glad to hear that you feel intimidated by your co-bloggers too, just because it means I’m not alone. But I have to count you among the intimidating crowd too. I love that with the flick of a wrist (well, I’m sure it takes more effort than that) you can place any current discussion of some church practice in its full historical context.

Mark, I love that you write so many comments, particularly since, along with Kaimi, I think you are one of the most consistently funny commenters in the bloggernacle. And I also agree with Ardis–it’s nice that you write lots of comments just so that fewer posts languish commentless.

ECS, I’m glad that we’re still able to attract you all wonderful lawyer commenters even if we aren’t members of the cult, er, club.

Sarah, sorry I mixed your comments up with another Sarah (or more than one?) Thanks for pointing it out. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be able to disentangle you in my data since I don’t have the URL link data behind the names in my data. Perhaps I’ll have to figure out a way to include that next time.

Ima, thanks for de-lurking to say hi!

Jacob, I’m glad you enjoyed this. Frankly, I thought this would probably be the most boring post of the lot too, so I’m glad you found the Gini coefficients interesting. You can see, though, that I didn’t have the energy to really delve very deeply into the data. I just fell back on my favorite habit of making a big chart.

Researcher, sorry I over-answered your question with an answer that wasn’t even getting at what you were asking. I’m glad Steve was able to allay your concern.

Jessawhy, I went looking for your really long comment and found that my program erred in processing data for that post and I ended up assigning each comment’s length to the commenter before. Oops! I spot-checked a few other threads and it looks like this was an isolated problem. Sorry if I led you to overestimate your own long-windedness. 🙂 You may now feel free to doubt my data for yet another reason (in addition to all those listed in the post). I’ll try to get that thread’s processing corrected and straighten out the “longest comment” list.

Norbert, sorry if I’ve mixed up your comments with someone else’s like I did with Sarah’s. Here are a couple of the comments from FMH that I thought were yours: this one on Rebecca’s “Observations in Vienna”, this one on fMhLisa’s “Paper or Plastic? Neither please” and this one on ECS’s “No Children are Illegitimate”. Of course I guess if they’re not, I don’t really have the energy to go back and check them all, but still it would be nice to know.

Honestly, when I think back on some of the exchanges I’ve had with people in blogland, it is so mortifyingly embarrassing that I feel like crawling into a hole somewhere.

Mark, now you’ve made my day. And all this time I’ve thought I was the only one who felt this way! There are several exchanges I’ve been in that I now find so humiliating that I’m occasionally gripped by a strange, horrifying but irresistible compulsion to read them over in all their gory detail, just to ascertain that yes, my blithering idiocy is still there, preserved in amber for time and all technological eternity.

Maybe the only option for me is to continue to post under the blogonym of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Then they might let me do a guest post here about the wonderful specialness of the ewig-weibliche.

Oh, but you should submit that one to FMH. They tend to attract a much larger, more eccentric, and more combative readership. 😉 I predict you’ll go to 300 comments at least.

Adris, I agree with Ziff–degree or no degree, I think you’re definitely playing in your league over there at T&S. And I think I might be actually able to comment more intelligently on Nate’s law posts than on your history ones, which invariably remind me that I know almost nothing about Mormon history. (Yes, the Mormons. Founded by Joseph Smith in 1830, right?) So when you get deep into a dissection of Fawn Brodie or the Mormon Meadows Massacre, I’m always like, whoa, baby! How does she KNOW all that stuff?

But you make a very good point that it’s nice to know someone’s reading, and you’ve inspired me to try to do that more often.

Sam B., thanks. I think I have you two separated properly–Sam MB/smb/Sam B (no period after “B”) has 929 comments– and you, with a period after “B” have 214. I appreciate you linking to your website with the comment forms to make the two of you easier to separate.

Of course, if you sometimes comment under Sam B (without a period), then I’ve probably got the numbers wrong. I thought I had seen Sam MB use this name sometimes to comment on other blogs, and then link back to BCC.

Anyway, if I’ve got this wrong, I’ll add this to my list of errors to try to correct.

I’m so surprised that I had less than 100 comments last year. Though I’m much less likely to comment on the five biggest blogs, once the tally goes over 80 it is unlikely I have anything to say that wasn’t already said, and probably said better.

Johnna, sorry if I’ve made an error, which I guess has been established is entirely possible :). I show you with 34 comments as Johnna, plus 22 more if you also post as “Johnna Cornett.”

I know what you feel about not having anything to add. I only begin to read lots of threads after they’re quite long, and I typically find several comments that I read and nod and think happily, “That’s what I would have said if I were more articulate!”

Ziff, I didn’t think you made an error. But thanks for revealing what my lower-than-100 number was, that is fun to know.

And hey, maybe I will feel more free to comment in the future, knowing I’m less than half the comment monster I could be. Frex, today I wouldn’t normally post since the conversation wrapped up 18 days ago.

Heck, today I wouldn’t be checking up on my favorite blogs, except for needing some more-fun-than-usual break from routine, since today’s routine is rerouted into being home with a sick kid.